United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs

The Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) is one of the functional commissions of the United Nations' Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and is the central drug policy-making body within the United Nations System. The CND also has important mandates under the three international drug control conventions, alongside the three other treaty-mandated bodies: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (on behalf of Secretary-General), World Health Organization, and International Narcotics Control Board. Under the League of Nations, the predecessor of the CND was the Advisory Committee on the Traffic in Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs, established by the first Assembly of the League of Nations on 15 December 1920, which met from 1921 to 1940. After the World War II, the Commission on Narcotic Drugs was established as early as 1946, by ECOSOC resolution 9(I). Initially, the CND was composed of only 15 countries "Members of the United Nations, which are important producing or manufacturing countries or countries in which illicit traffic in narcotics constitutes a serious social problem." The first members were Canada, Chinese Taipei, Egypt, France, India, Iran, Mexico, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Turkey, the UK, US, USSR, and Yugoslavia. The CND first met in December 1946 under the chairmanship of Canadian ambassador Charles Henry Ludovic Sharman. At its first meeting, the CND resolved to take over all powers and mandates related to drugs previously held by the League of Nations. At first, CND's mandate was to assist ECOSOC in supervising the application of international conventions and agreements dealing with narcotic drugs. In December 1991, General Assembly resolution 46/104 assigned the CND the additional role of the governing body of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme, nowadays administered by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.